Drink makers giving people ways to ditch the can NEW YORK (AP) — It keeps getting easier to ditch the soda can. When Coca-Cola said this week that it would let people make its drinks at home using a beverage machine, it became the latest company to take advantage of a growing trend: People turning to flavored drops or at-home carbonation machines that do away with the need to haul home bulky cans and bottles from the supermarket. While such alternatives still represent a tiny fraction of the...

GI Joe, the world’s first action figure, turns 50 SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — G.I. Joe is turning 50. The birthday of what’s called the world’s first action figure is being celebrated this month by collectors and the toy maker that introduced it just before the nation plunged into the quagmire that would become the Vietnam War — a storm it seems to have weathered pretty well. Since Hasbro brought it to the world’s attention at the annual toy fair in New York City in early 1964, G.I. Joe has...

Tenn girl, 5, dies from being forced to drink soda SURGIONSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee couple faces a murder charge, accused of forcing the man’s 5-year-old daughter to drink more than 2 liters of grape soda and water, causing her brain to swell and rupture, authorities said. According to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office and the autopsy report, Alexa Linboom was brought in to the emergency room on Jan. 1, 2012, by her father, Randall Vaughn, and his wife, Mary Vaughn. The girl was...

Utilities scramble to restore power in Pa., Md. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people spent a second day without electricity Thursday as utility crews from as far away as Canada and Arkansas scrambled to restore power lost when ice took down trees and limbs in the mid-Atlantic. Forecasters said a bone-chilling cold would remain in place for days. Nearly a half-million customers lacked power in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In Pennsylvania, where most of the outages were locate...

US government to spend $30M on forest restoration HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday it will spend $30 million this year on forest restoration projects in 12 states to reduce the threat of wildfires, protect water quality and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species. Those first 13 projects will be the start of a multi-year initiative to improve the health of forests and watersheds on public and private lands, Agriculture Undersecretary Robert Bonnie sai...

Lights out for 1M as winter storm slams Northeast More than a million homes and businesses were left in darkness and cold Wednesday after snow, sleet and freezing rain moved into the Northeast. The region’s second winter storm of the week canceled classes, closed government and business offices and sent cars and trucks sliding on slippery roads and highways. Around a foot of snow fell in some states. Moving in overnight from the Midwest, where it wreaked similar havoc, the storm tested the re...

Officials: NY suspect had Hoffman’s cell number NEW YORK (AP) — At least one of four people arrested during an investigation of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s suspected fatal heroin overdose had the actor’s cellphone number, two law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Investigators zeroed in on the four after a tipster, responding to publicity about Hoffman’s death, told police he had seen Hoffman at the lower Manhattan apartment building where they were arrested on Tuesday and he believe...

Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner. The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that...

Central Indiana man back home 18 years after abduction INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Nathan Slinkard was 5 years old when his mother failed to return him to his father as an Indiana court had ordered. On Tuesday, the 23-year-old man was back home with his father, about a week after he walked into the United States Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, identified himself and asked to come home to the U.S. His return 18 years after he went missing buoyed investigators who hope Nathan’s return leads to a bigger re...

States look to rein in government surveillance PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Angry over revelations of National Security Agency surveillance and frustrated with what they consider outdated digital privacy laws, state lawmakers around the nation are proposing bills to curtail the powers of law enforcement to monitor and track citizens. Their efforts in at least 14 states are a direct message to the federal government: If you don’t take action to strengthen privacy, we will. “We need to stand up and...

Facebook barrels ahead on 10th anniversary NEW YORK (AP) — It has been 10 years since a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg created a website called Thefacebook.com to let his classmates find their friends online. They did. And in the decade since, so have more than a billion people, not just American college students but also farmers in India, activists in Egypt and pop stars in South Korea. Facebook has transformed how much of the world communicates. Zuckerberg’s insistence that ...

NY couple charged after toddler calls 911 15 times LOWVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities have charged a northern New York woman and her boyfriend because the woman’s 2-year-old daughter used their cellphones to dial 911 a total of 15 times last month. Village of Lowville Police Officer Matthew Martin says the 23-year-old mother and her 33-year-old boyfriend told him they tried to keep their phones away from the persistent toddler, but the girl kept getting them and dialing 911. Martin spoke to the...

Long winter brings salt shortage, steeper prices CHICAGO (AP) — As piles of snow grow taller during this seemingly endless winter, the mounds of salt for spreading on the nation’s icy, slushy roads are shrinking, forcing communities to ration supplies or try exotic new ice-melting substances. Cities have already gone through most of their salt well ahead of the time they traditionally really need it — when the coldest part of winter gives way to temperatures just warm enough to turn snow int...

Lawmakers seek Endangered Species Act overhaul \BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republicans in Congress on Tuesday called for an overhaul to the Endangered Species Act to curtail environmentalists’ lawsuits and give more power to states, but experts say broad changes to one of the nation’s cornerstone environmental laws are unlikely given the pervasive partisan divide in Washington, D.C. A group of 13 GOP lawmakers representing states across the U.S. released a report proposing “targeted reforms” f...

New wave of heroin claims Hoffman and others NEW YORK (AP) — Heroin was supposed to be an obsolete evil, a blurry memory of a dangerous drug that dwelled in some dark recess of American culture. But smack never really disappeared. It comes in waves, and one such swell is cresting across the nation, sparking widespread worry among government officials and driving up overdose deaths — including, it appears, that of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Fueled by a crackdown on prescr...

Health care law will mean fewer people on the job WASHINGTON (AP) — Several million American workers will cut back their hours on the job or leave the nation’s workforce entirely because of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, congressional analysts said Tuesday, adding fresh fuel to the political fight over “Obamacare.” The workforce changes would mean nationwide losses equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs by 2021, in large part because people would opt to keep their income low to s...

Senate sends farm bill to Obama WASHINGTON (AP) — The sweeping farm bill that Congress sent to President Obama Tuesday has something for almost everyone, from the nation’s 47 million food stamp recipients to Southern peanut growers, Midwest corn farmers and the maple syrup industry in the Northeast. After years of setbacks, the Senate on Tuesday sent the nearly $100 billion-a-year measure to President Barack Obama. The White House said the president will sign the bill on Fri...

Sugar tied to fatal heart woes; soda's a culpritCould too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems. It doesn't take all that much extra sugar, hidden in many processed foods, to substantially raise the risk, the researchers found, and most Americans eat more than the safest amount. Having a cinnamon roll with your morning coffee, a super-sized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner woul...

5 things to know about the massive farm billCuts to food stamps, continued subsidies to farmers and victories for animal rights advocates. The massive, five-year farm bill heading toward final passage this week has broad implications for just about every American, from the foods we eat to what we pay for them. Support for farmers through the subsidies included in the legislation helps determine the price of food and what is available. And money for food stamps helps the neediest America...

Obama vows to flex presidential powers in speech WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to energize his sluggish second term, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday night in his State of the Union address to sidestep Congress “whenever and wherever” necessary to narrow economic disparities between rich and poor. He unveiled an array of executive actions that included increasing the minimum wage for some federal contract workers and making it easier for millions of low-income Americans to save for retiremen...